forced internment of 1942

Here are more photos of war relocation -- the forced migration to rural internment camps of Americans of Japanese Ancestry from West Coast states of the US. My main source is the Japanese American Relocation Digital Archive of the University of California. There are lots of good images on this site and also in Linda Gordon's article on Worldpress.org: Internment Without Charges: Dorothea Lange and the Censored Images of Japanese American Internment and in an online exhibit of the Smithsonian Museum of American History: Japanese Americans and the U.S. Constitution .

Unless otherwise noted, all the images I show here are by Dorothea Lange and are found in collections of the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. Lange probably also wrote the captions that appear with her photos. As I explained in yesterday's post, she had taken a job with War Relocation Authority and was instructed to show the internment program in a positive light. Within the constraints placed upon her she succeeded in giving a much more balanced depiction of the program, including many of its injustices and the patient endurance of those who suffered under it.

To give a broader context, I've intermixed other images along with Lange's photos and put all in roughly chronological order.

{Caption: Henry Mitarai, age 36, successful large-scale farm operator with his family on their ranch about six weeks before evacuation. This family, along with other families of Japanese ancestry, will spend the duration at War Relocation Authority centers. -- Mountain View, California. 3/30/42}

{Caption: Wash-day 48 hours before evacuation of persons of Japanese ancestry from this farming community in Santa Clara County. Evacuees will be housed in War Relocation Authority centers for the duration. -- San Lorenzo, California. 5/5/42}

{Caption: Florin, Calif.--Businesses are being sold by owners of Japanese ancestry. Evacuation of all residents of Japanese descent from this area is due in two days. -- Florin, California. 5/11/42}

{Caption: Yugoslavian farmer is taking over berry farm formerly operated by residents of Japanese ancestry, who are being sent to assembly points and later to be housed in War Relocation Authority centers for the duration. -- Centerville, California. 4/18/42}

{Caption: Awaiting evacuation bus. Posters in background list names of families, buses to which they are assigned, and departure times. Evacuees of Japanese ancestry will be housed in War Relocation Authority centers for the duration. -- Centerville, California. 5/9/42}

{Caption: Hayward, Calif.--A young member of an evacuee family awaiting evacuation bus. Evacuees of Japanese ancestry will be housed in War Relocation Authority centers for the duration. -- Hayward, California. 5/8/42}

{Caption: This girl, who worked as a strawberry picker on an Alameda County farm, awaits evacuation bus. Evacuees of Japanese ancestry will be housed in War Relocation Authority centers for the duration. -- Centerville, California. 5/9/42}

{Caption: Hayward, Calif. -- Grandfather and grandchildren awaiting evacuation bus. The grandfather conducted a dyeing and cleaning business. The family unit is preserved during the evacuation and at War Relocation Authority centers where evacuees of Japanese ancestry will be housed for the duration. -- Hayward, California. 5/8/42}

{Caption: US WWI veteran proudly wearing his uniform as staff member accounts for him at Santa Anita assembly center for persons of Japanese ancestry evacuated from West Coast, Arcadia, CA, US - April 05, 1942; this photo appeared in LIFE magazine and comes from the Life photo archive.}

{Caption: San Francisco, Calif., Apr. 1942--Residents, of Japanese ancestry, appearing at the Civil control station for registration in response to the Army's exclusion order No. 20--The evacuees will be housed in War relocation authority centers for the duration}

{Caption: San Pedro, Calif. Apr. 1942--Residents of Japanese ancestry being moved from Los Angeles harbor before their eventual resettlement in war relocation authority centers}

{Caption: Take Fresh Air? (Fresh Air Break on the Trip from Fresno to Jerome); painted in 1957 by Henry Sugimoto; source: Japanese American National Museum (Los Angeles, Calif.)}

{Caption: Hayward, Calif.--Two children of the Mochida family who, with their parents, are awaiting evacuation bus. The youngster on the right holds a sandwich given her by one of a group of women who were present from a local church. The family unit is kept intact during evacuation and at War Relocation Authority centers where evacuees of Japanese ancestry will be housed for the duration. 5/8/42}

{Caption: Persons of Japanese ancestry arrive at the Santa Anita Assembly Center from San Pedro. Evacuees lived at this center at the former Santa Anita race track before being moved inland to relocation centers. Photographer: Clem Albers, Arcadia, CA, April 5, 1942. Source: National Archives, 210-G-3B-414.}

{Caption: Manzanar, Calif.--Newcomers move into Manzanar, a War Relocation Authority center for evacuees of Japanese ancestry. -- Photographer: Clem Albers. 4/2/42; source: Bancroft Library}

{Caption: Manzanar, Calif.--Grandfather of Japanese ancestry teaching his little grandson to walk at this War Relocation Authority center for evacuees. 7/3/42}

{Caption: Manzanar, Calif.--Far end of barrack row looking west to the desert beyond with the mountains in the background. Evacuees at this War Relocation Authority center are encountering the terrific desert heat. 7/2/42}

{Caption: Supper time! Meal times are the big events of the day within an assembly center. This is a line-up of evacuees waiting for the B shift at 5:45 P.M. They carry with them their own dishes and cutlery in bags to protect them from the dust. They, themselves, individually wash their own dishes after each meal, since dish washing facilities in the mess halls prove inadequate. Most of the residents prefer this second shift because they sometimes get second helpings, but the groups are rotated each week. There are eighteen mess halls in camp which, together, accommodate 8,000 persons three times each day. All food is prepared and served by evacuees. -- San Bruno, California. 6/16/42}

{Caption: Dinner is served cafeteria style to young and old in the mess halls at the Heart Mountain Relocation Center. -- Photographer: Tom Parker -- Heart Mountain, Wyoming. 9/23/42; source: Bancroft Library}

{Caption: One of the young Heart Mountain school children is enjoying a swing on the center's play ground. -- Photographer: Hikaru Iwasaki -- Heart Mountain, Wyoming. 11/24/43; source: Bancroft Library}

{Caption: T/4 Taniguchi visits his wife and daughter at the Minidoka Relocation Center before returning to his unit in the Pacific. Taniguchi volunteered for the Army in 1942 when he and his family were at Tule Lake before it became a segregation center. He served in the China-Burma-India theatre and served on loan to General Wingate's Chindits, a British unit fighting in the Burma Jungles often behind Japanese lines. -- Hunt, Idaho. March 1943}

{Caption: Send Off Husband at Jerome Camp painted in 1943 by Henry Sugimoto; source: Japanese American National Museum}

{Arcadia, California. Military police on duty in watch-tower at Santa Anita Park assembly center for evacuees of Japanese ancestry. Evacuees are transferred later to War Relocation Authority centers for the duration. 6 April 1942; Photo by Clem Albers; source: National Archives}

{Caption: Manzanar, Calif.--Karl Yoneda, Block Leader at this War Relocation Authority center for evacuees of Japanese ancestry. He is married to a Caucasian and they have a child four years old. The family are spending the duration at this center. Former occupation: Longshoreman. 7/3/42}

{Caption: At home at Heart Mountain, painted in December 1942 by Estelle Ishigo; source: Dept of Special Collections/UCLA Library}

{Caption: Reverend Yamazaki Was Beaten in Camp Jerome, painted in 1943 by Henry Sugimoto; source: Japanese American National Museum}

{Caption: Freedom Day Came painted in 1945 by Henry Sugimoto at Camp Jerome; source:
Japanese American National Museum }

{Mr. George Oni and his daughter Georgette Chize Oni biding farewell to brother Henry Oni. 7 February 1946; source: National Archives}

{Caption: Roaring into Sacramento Monday morning, July 30, a special train of seven cars brought some 450 Japanese American residents of California back to their homes after residences of over three years at the Rohwer Center of the War Relocation Authority, McGehee, Arkansas. Met by several officers of the WRA at Sacramento, Robert Allison, Assistant Relocation Officer at the Rohwer Center, who accompanied the returnees and all the passengers, reported a satisfactory and uneventful trip during the 2,000 miles, over lines of four railways and with equipment varying from a fairly modern cafe car to antiquated wooden coaches of the gaslight era. However, there were no complaints from the returnees, numbering young, old, and babies in arms, with a tourist sleeper reserved for the aged and a few who were ill. En route several crowded troop trains, in some cases bearing G.I.'s back from the South Pacific, were met by the Rohwer Special on sidings. All reported that hearty and cordial greetings were exchanged. Disembarking at various stations between Sacramento and Los Angeles, the returnees found many friends to greet them, both Caucasian and Japanese Americans. The unanimous verdict? We're glad to get home! -- Photographer: Hikaru Iwasaki -- Los Angeles, California. 7/30/45; source: Bancroft Library}

See also:

Relocation and Incarceration of Japanese Americans During World War II

Japanese American Relocation Digital Archive

Japanese Americans and the U.S. Constitution Smithsonian Museum of American History

Internment Without Charges: Dorothea Lange and the Censored Images of Japanese American Internment by Linda Gordon (Japan Focus, December 4, 2006)

The Preservation of a People: A Look at the Evacuation and Relocation of the People of Japanese Ancestry in the United States during World War II

Against the Tide

The Photographs of Dorothea Lange (1895-1965)

Japanese American internment

Dorothea Lange’s Images of the WWII Internment of People of Japanese Ancestry

War Relocation Authority

Dorothea Lange biography at Berkeley.edu

Dorothea Lange wikipedia article

Internment Without Charges: Dorothea Lange and the Censored Images of Japanese American Internment

Santa Anita Racetrack Assembly Center,(Arcadia) California

A Short Chronology of Japanese American History

The Japanese Internment

Report of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians

Addendum:

{Caption: [A sign, showing a drawing of a Japanese head and reading "Get in trim for fighting him. Swim at Sutro's," posted on a building, San Francisco, Calif.]}